Shanghai shares rise for nine straight trading days
Shanghai shares notched a nine-day rising streak today, helped by heavyweight bank and oil companies.
The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.23 percent to 3,421.83 points.
Industrial Bank Co rose 5.82 percent to 18.18 yuan (US$2.79) and China Construction Bank Corp added 2.91 percent to 7.78 yuan.
Banking shares climbed amid expectations of liquidity being loosened as “the central bank shows few signs of raising interest rates,” said Kang Shuiyue, an analyst at Sun Investments, a domestic asset management company.
Oil giants were boosted by surging crude prices, given that Brent crude closed at US$68.82 per barrel yesterday, the highest level since December 2014.
PetroChina Co gained 2.82 percent to 8.75 yuan while China Petroleum & Chemical Corp rose 2.14 percent to 7.15 yuan.
Oil prices rallied amid political turmoil in Iran, a large oil producing country, and shrinking crude inventory in the United States, said Luo Libo and Wang Ke, analysts at GF Securities.
They added that the continuous production cuts among members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would further raise crude prices in the coming days.
